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27 responses to “The men from Rotenburg who marched east”

My late father Captain Charles Wilson Booth (Royal Berkshire Regiment) seems to have been omitted from this list. He was wounded and captured on 27 May 1940 in the Dunkirk retreat and liberated in April 1945. He spent most of the war in one of these camps.

No but I would refer you to the diaries of John Mansel who provided all the forged papers for those escaping. He does not seem to be on the list either. I now have a copy of the diaries which are very we;; written with good line illustrations by the author ( a qualified architect).

My Wife’s grandfather was Lt. Leslie Dennis Freeman, taken at Dunkirk and I remember his story of being a POW for the duration. Findmypast says he was at Rotenburg. He died in 1980. I assume he would have been on this list, But he is not. He tells the story of making a radio from the parts of an electric model train that for some mysterious reason he had with him at his capture.He told of evenings where the troops and some of the Germans listened to the BBC news! Anyone else heard this story??

I presume that ‘Findmypast’ uses the Nominal Roll of POWs published in 1945 by HMSO. Although this has the note “All lists corrected generally up to 30 March 1945”, it mostly describes the situation in the autumn of 1944. The discrepancy being caused by delays and confusion in records from Germany reaching the UK. My lists have to use the HMSO publication for IX A/H, but for IX A/Z there is a nominal roll dated January 1945 and which forms part of the papers of the Senior British Officer, Lt-Col Kennedy, which are in the Imperial War Museum.Since Freeman is not on the roll, he must have been transferred in the autumn of 1944. Transfers were not uncommon and most of the POWs from 1940 experienced four or five camps before the end of the War.

Thanks for replying and supplying such useful information. I asked my mother-in-law, who is the daughter in law of Lt Freeman with regard to the liberation and it was a year or two before she met the family. She says that Freeman had a diary of all his wartime experience and she thought it had been lent to one of her daughters in law, each of whom have never heard of it!! It would be fascinating if ever it turned up again wouldn’t it?? Oh well – back to the drawing board…

I have my father’s (Pte V Cole, Royal West Kent) ‘A Wartime Log’ as described above. It has 111 pages and his copy has one or two photos per page. These photos must show most at Spangenberg in 1944.Subjects are, for instance, Panto and swimming gala. We have digitised many of these photos.

I can now confirm there to be 111 pages in the log most with 1 or 2 photos. We have his diary which records liberation by Americans after long march and a video of him telling experiences after capture. He was captured at Arras during moves toward then away from Dunkirk. I believe this was the counter attack that worried Hitler, where Rommel had to take command of 88’s. Following wounding and capture his account tells of being flown to Berlin with a few others, to be paraded before Hitler and co with full kit. He thought they were going to be shot. Hitler had never seen a ‘Tommy’ before. He was marched/transported to Poland (Pozen) to work in salt mines then moved to Spangenberg. I have his diary and names and addresses of those he was with as well as other documents. He was involved with a camp radio. I hope this is all of interest and would propose to show photos electronically as best we can for all to see and to transcribe other data.

The list mentions D. Orr, Pipe Sergeant Major, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. I suppose that means he was Pipe Major, but in which battalion?
I am also interested to know his year/place of birth and, if deceased, his year/place of death.

Sadly Orr only occurs on the camp nominal roll for January 1945 as Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. Identifying battalions from this or the HMSO 1945 published list isn’t possible. I would imagine that he was captured with others from 51st Highland Div in 1940.

Sorry I have never seen a record like this. He isn’t on the nominal roll of the camp dated January 1945, but is on the War Office list as IX A/Z. Since the WO list is often not up to date, this suggests he was moved from Rotenburg sometime in the autumn of 1944.

Hi, my grandfather was corporal James Thomas Bishop of the 4th South African Infantry Brigade UDF service no. 36835. His POW no.was 224721 I have his 1944 Oflag IX A/Z Christmas card and a letter on the 8th jan. 1945 to my grandmother saying that he had a job as a waiter in the officers dining hall.He was taken prisoner in North Africa in 1942, sent to Italy, then on to StalagIV B, have a card dated Sept. 27th 1943 from there.
Do you have any information on him in your records?

Sadly I have no more news about your grandfather. I suspect he was an orderly at Rotenburg, rather than a waiter. All Oflags – officer camps had a small number of orderlies. Their duties might have included waiting on table for major events – such as the Christmas meal, but would have also included cleaning. The orderlies took part in camp activities, for example in NOvember 1944 there was a revue by the Orderlies – “Rise and Shine: a krazy konkoktion of komedy and synkopation”. Unfortunately your grandfather is not in the cast list. I will put an appeal for information about your grandfather on my Facebook page

My father was P J Woodward a captain in the Royal Engineers wounded and captured outside Calais in May 1940. He was a searchlight specialist but was allocated to stay behind mining and bridge demolitions. He was a very bitter man both because of the poor level of equipment of the British Expeditionary Force but also the way the local French gave away every mining of bridges to the Germans.

Yes ultimately I agree. Thanks for the suggestion. I’d like to have as faithful a copy as possible first though, to keep in the family.

Yes it is the YMCA log. Printed in Geneva 1944. 213 Pages. Entitled “A Wartime Log”. The cover is Air Force blue. As he was a prisoner from 6th June 1940, a lot of what he has written I guess must have been transposed from other documentation. Much detail. Particularly of the journey into Germany after capture. From-and-to details of all the camps he was at during 5 years of captivity until liberated on 4th April 1945. All the camp Xmas cards and many programs of camp shows. Many photos of fellow prisoners and places they all were at or passed through.etc etc etc…..